The Homemaker Plans Her Week: Spring Cleaning

In my home this week,  I have decided that in this fresh season before me I'm going to put my hands on something green every single day.  I have a wealth of plants indoors and out that need a little love and care.  Repotting, trimming and deadheading, pruning, weeding about the bases of plants...It's the season and I need that direct connection with nature which I find deeply soothing and satisfying and vital.  

The routine things will be gotten to, but I'll not do them to the exclusion of those daily moments when I shall put my hands in dirt and dig among roots.

Work:

Technically this is a fifth week, and I don't have a specific zone I focus on for this.  I've recently cleaned the shed and gathered a bunch of donations which have been delivered.  I may try to get out there this week and see if I can find a second bin of stuff to go.  The pantry has recently been cleaned and organized fresh.  I think I'll continue focusing on the porches and patio and work on those areas.  I still have pots to empty and freshen.  There's plenty to be done and I'll try to get out each day this week and attend to something outdoors.  I'll use the small bites method though.  I can't do as I did in the past and work myself into the ground and then take three days off, not with a three-year-old running around.

Indoors, I want to start the seasonal laundry.  Pillow covers, blankets, throws, sheers, those curtains that aren't foam backed, etc.  Since John is laundry man, I won't overwhelm him and dump it all at once.  I will give him fair warning though and just add enough to make up a load each day.  Vacuuming blinds and those curtains that can't be safely washed will be done as I get to those zones this next month.

Otherwise, I'll just focus on routine housework and continue to take a few minutes to declutter various areas.  I'm really bothered by how much stuff we seem to have in odd spaces at present.  Now that I know that Katie will be with us until the end of the year, I'd like to see what I can do to remedy several of these areas.  

John's music room is packed, and he's mentioned the clutter there is hindering his creative inspiration.  I understand that very well.  I'd like to get some things out of his music room that he kindly offered space to store.  We didn't realize that it was going to be a longer-term thing at the time.  So, there's that.

And I won't plan a thing further!  There are always three meals, laundry, routine cleaning, etc. to fill the days.  

Kitchen:  

Taking time each week to sort out the fridge twice a week has gone a long way to preventing waste.  I'll do this again this week.  I know the fridge freezer has quite a lot of bread ends and pieces that I should drag out and do something with at present.

Meal prep is a huge help each week, too. I am deeply appreciative of the time I've taken to do this, especially in the afternoon time period when I find I'm tired and sometimes others are testy.  Knowing supper is pretty well prepared makes a difference in my attitude and helps me hold the line.

This week I want to focus on getting a complete freezer inventory.  I've added so much to the freezer and used as I would normally but I'm not sure what I've got left.

I'd like to make up a few easy to prep breakfasts.  I have a goodly stock of muffins for breakfasts that we really need to start using.  Two overripe bananas on the counter are making me think that banana bread is going to go into the freezer this week, too.  Perhaps I'll use one of the dozen cans of pumpkin on the shelf to make Pumpkin Banana bread.

This week would also be a good week to get that warm weather menu listing done so I'll have ready ideas when the warmer days are finally here.

Meals:  

Chicken Pot Pie, homemade cranberry sauce, Sweet Potatoes, Coleslaw

Clear the fridge

Chicken Tacos, Pineapple Salsa, Green Salad

Italian Pepper Steak, Rice, Green Beans, Garlic Bread

Beef Kielbasa, Creamed Cabbage, Hash Browns, 

Beef Stew, Cornbread, Peach Cobbler

Italian Meatloaf, Rice, Asparagus, Biscuits

Personal/Leisure:

I continue to read The Blue Butterfly

My thoughts: I still don't feel I know this character very well.  As near as I can tell from the additional reading I've done on the subject of Marion Davies, the book pretty much sticks to proven facts, recounts a few rumors but if they are not proven facts, they aren't embellished, just added in and explained away.    The scenes with her and Charlie Chaplin are more intimately detailed than any with Hearst. Skipping over the more explicit (although not graphic or lengthy) has slowed my reading of this book.  I don't dislike it enough to stop reading.  And it's certainly not been as difficult emotionally to read as my last two or three choices, so there's that.

I didn't say, but I watched "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris" last weekend and that is such a delightful film.  I think anyone would enjoy that one.  I read that book often in my youth and returned to read it again and again.  I went looking for a copy after watching the movie and we'll just put that on the wish list because right now the original copies are dear as diamonds.  Paperback reprints are more affordable, but it sort of makes me mad that I didn't keep Granny's old Reader's Digest Condensed version when I might have.

Book and movie reviews aside, I'll continue reading the current read and then I plan to pick up something simpler and less complex to read.  

Manicure.  I know a manicure will never last me through the week, but I really love doing my nails for the weekend.  This is my little treat to me, often something I do on Friday evenings once dishes are finished up.

Set up a few more outfits for wardrobe needs.  

Take time out to order a few clothing items I need for the warmer months ahead.